ALSO on 5TH SEPT
Solidarity with migrants and refugees in Calais
A solidarity delegation is heading to Calais on Sat 5th September organised by Stand Up to Racism
People can donate money, food or practical things such as clothing, sanitary products, bedding or children’s toys etc a collection sheet is available via the link below.If you have items to donate or can organise a collection at work or in your community this week please contact nathan.pettefar@hotmail.co.uk

A second delegation is being planned for October 17. If you would like to help organise a contingent from South East London to join this delegation and collect for it contact mark.dunk@gmail.com
http://facebook.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=073bb5e128ee9e34ac2026cfa&id=d3923e986a&e=5db6d9417b

Candy Udwin heard today that the National Gallery had turned down her appeal against dismissal despite the ruling of an Employment Tribunal Interim Relief Hearing that it was likely she had been unfairly dismissed for her trade union activities.

60,000 people have signed the petition to the new gallery director Gabriele Finaldi against the gallery’s privatisation plans since he took up post this week, doubling its numbers to over 120,000 signatures !

PCS is meeting Dr Finaldi this week and will ask him to step in to resolve the dispute by doing the right thing - to overturn the privatisation and to reinstate Candy. Talks are also ongoing with the National Gallery and Securitas at ACAS.

The strikers are inviting trade unions or campaigns to adopt a day of strike action during August. If you can’t come to the picket line please show your support in other ways by organising collections or solidarity messages.

Just to update in typical Bromley Council style they cancelled Alan's hearing at the last minute, thanks for all those that came along to his rally, we will keep you posted on the re-scheduled date, in meantime please do keep posting messages of support on his FB page:-

Finally please see below and attached about the SERTUC Trades Council Conference on 31st October, Kathy is going to be one of the speakers so please register and attend, be good to have a good showing from the Bromley area as we are going to be highlighted.

In solidarity.

BTUC.

Dear Colleague

SERTUC is organising an event for Trades Councils and County Associations of Trades Councils in London, the South East and the East of England, and indeed for trade unionists who would like to work more closely with trades councils, or even begin a new one.

The event will be held at Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS on Saturday 31 October 2015 from 09.30 (registration and coffee) through 10.00 (start) to 15.45 (finish), when there will be a brief period of refreshments. A working lunch will be provided.

Themes may include:

·Smart campaigning against cuts in local authority services

·Stronger unions: lobbying and organising against the Trade Union Bill

·Reaching out to and defending young workers

·Making May Day 2016 a day of hope, celebration and protest

We have invited Matt Wrack, General Secretary FBU, to speak in his capacity as Chair of the Joint Consultative Committee between the TUC and Trades Councils, and several other high profile speakers, but there will also be presentations from trades councils and generous time devoted to questions and contributions from participants.

Please join us. Please help publicise and mobilise for this event. Financial support is available for travel for ‘up to two’ delegates from registered trades councils and CATCs. Please see the flyer for details.

Monday, 17 August 2015

Defend the Union at London Met

On Thursday 27 August, Max Watson, London Met Uni UNISON Branch Secretary will be making his appeal against compulsory redundancy. Max Watson, is under threat of being made redundant. He is the only member of staff in his whole faculty being made compulsorily redundant and one of only three UNISON members facing compulsory redundancy among non academic staff across the whole University.Solidarity Demonstration Thursday 27th August, 12-2pm Outside Rocket Complex, London Metropolitan University, 166-220 Holloway Road

Iranian Teachers' Leader Arrested

Esmail Abdi, a leader of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, was arrested on 27 June following his attempt to obtain a visa to attend the 7th Education International World Congress in Ottawa, Canada in late July. The Education International is deeply concerned about the repression facing representatives of the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers Trade Associations.sign the petition...more details...

Another Walk in Deepest Bedfordshire

Monday 24th August 2015 Meet on Platform 3 at St Pancras International station at 10.45, with tickets, for the 11.01 train to Luton This walk is being organised by Richard who can be contacted on 07903019336walk details...

Bahrain: Support Early Day Motion 241

Sponsored by Angus MacNeil, among others, the motion provides a comprehensive overview of the spectrum of human rights abuses for which the regime is regularly condemned by Amnesty and other rights advocacy groups. Numerous areas of "ongoing violations" are identified.more details...

Next Branch Meeting

Thursday November 5th at 2pm

Meetings take place in the union office in Carlow Street NW1 7LH, nearest tube Mornington Crescent. All retired academic staff are welcome (as well as those about to retire). If you have items for the agenda, or wish to be put on the mailing list please let me know.

Sunday, 16 August 2015

Why we must oppose austerity,
and join the coming protests in Manchester - a Green perspective

We
all know that austerity is a ‘social justice’ disaster. This morally
reprehensible policy is forcing ordinary people – particularly the poorest and most
vulnerable – to pay for the economic crash caused by the reckless speculating
of unaccountable banks in deregulated financial markets. In its most extreme
the cuts to disability benefits, the NHS and a vindictive regime of benefit
sanctioning have led to thousands of deaths. Austerity kills.

On
top of this, the economic justification for inflicting all this misery has been
completely discredited with most economists agreeing that by shrinking the
economy austerity has harmed growth, prolonged the effects of the recession
(even the IMF is issuing proclamations against it) and utterly failed as an
apparent strategy to reduce national debt. Austerity is revealed to be not an
economic necessity but a repackaged conservative ideology to undermine the
welfare state. The financial crash is being used as a smokescreen to implement
the same brand of neo=liberal policies (cuts to public spending, privatisation
and de-regulation) that led to it in the first place.

All
this is grounds enough for why austerity is wrong and why we must fight against
it, and large protests like the 250,000-strong June
20th Demo in London and the ones in Manchester
in October this year (co-organised by the TUC and The People’s Assembly Against
Austerity, to coincide with the Tory Party Conference) are crucial in building this
struggle against a great social injustice. Nonetheless, within these debates
and protest movements we must be sure to argue that austerity is also a huge
obstruction to the aims of environmental justice and directly threatens
attempts to mitigate climate change.

For
one, if Britain is to transition to a sustainable carbon neutral economy it is
going to need massive investment in infrastructure, housing and renewable
energy. As well as stopping us from destroying the environment and the habitability
of our planet, this could both provide jobs for millions of people and the
fiscal stimulus needed to get the economy going again. But austerity takes us
in completely the opposite direction. As long as we have a Conservative
government pursing ideological austerity, determined to reduce state spending
at any cost (whilst shamelessly cutting taxes for the rich and large
corporations), arguments for investment will always fall on deaf ears.

Cutting ‘Green’

Each
year in the UK 25,000 people die from the cold, and at least a third of these
deaths are due to living in cold homes. This is because the UK has some of the
worst insulated homes in Europe, with expensive energy bills putting millions
in fuel poverty. Under the coalition, home insulation was a disaster, with
loans for insulation (the so called Green Deal) taken up by so few that new
cavity wall insulations fell in 2013 to a quarter of previous levels. Under our
new majority Conservative government the home insulation budget has been cut by
another £40 million in the first round of departmental cost-cutting and the
Green Deal loans completely scrapped (along with a decade-in-the-making plan to
make all new homes carbon neutral by 2016). And it’s the same across the board.

Under
Austerity the government is not only completely unwilling to embark on the
investments our communities and our planet so badly needs, but is actually
cutting what few vital green initiatives we already have. As well as backtracking
on its home energy-efficiency and insulation programme, it is slashing the subsidies
for biomass, aerobic digestion and biogas, as well as solar, onshore wind and
even tidal power. So far the only renewable energy source that isn’t being cut
is offshore wind (much more expensive than its onshore counterpart), and even
its future seems uncertain.

The
Green investment bank, which has increasingly played a pivotal role in
providing start-up capital to the environmental industry (and one of the Coalition’s
few positive achievements) is being privatised in the largest ever sale of state assets. Green taxes like fuel duty are
being cut. Even the incentives to buy less polluting cars (through differential
rates of Vehicle Excise Duty) are being scrapped from 2017. However, the cuts to the Environment Agency
and flood defence programs have caused the most headlines after they
spectacularly highlighted the – contradictory – long
term costs of austerity, by contributing to the massive
flooding that hit southern England (especially the Somerset levels) over the
winter of 2013-14.

The ‘dirty’ economy
rolls on…

What’s
more, whilst environmental programs and renewable energy are being cut left
right and centre, subsidies for the fossil fuel industry continue unabated
(this is primarily in the form of tax breaks for oil companies and government
funding for exploratory oil drilling), amounting to several billion pounds a
year. As fossil fuel reserves decline (unfortunately not fast enough to stop us
destroying the planet as more than two-thirds of current reserves need to be
left in the ground to avoid catastrophic warming), the government experiments
with riskier unconventional extraction methods, from offshore deep water
resources, to the now infamous ‘fracking’. Everywhere we look the short-termism
inherent in austerity is taking us the wrong way in the fight against climate
change.

Outside
of the arena of state action, by reducing people’s incomes as the cost of
living increases, austerity is further encouraging environmentally harmful
consumption. Austerity has seen the longest and sharpest decline in living
standards in the UK since Victorian times, driving the demand for (among other
things) cheaper food – which can currently only be provided through
ecologically harmful processes. Food production is a major source of carbon
emissions and ecological damage, but as our current economic system privileges
ecologically damaging production norms – making the green choice the more expensive
choice – people have no option but to take what they can get in the age of
austerity. When people are struggling to put food on the table, they’re less
inclined to worry about the environmental impact of that food or of green
issues in general.

Join the movement!

For
all these reasons and more austerity is an environmental disaster. If we want
to make sure the UK does its part in ensuring we don’t warm the planet by more
than 2 degrees by the end of the century (the internationally-agreed target
we’re all very close to making impossible), then austerity has to end. We
already know we owe it to the most vulnerable in our society and our wider
communities in general, but now we also owe it to our planet to end austerity
now. Anyone who cares about climate change has a duty to join the movement
against austerity (The Green Party is an official affiliate and supporter of The
People’s Assembly Against Austerity) and take
to the streets to protest these policies that are having such a disastrous
effect on both our society and our environment.

That’s
why I hope you’ll join us on the streets of Manchester for the huge march
on Sunday 4th October, and in the public spaces, faith centres and
community halls for the ‘festival
of resistance’ Mon 5th – Wed 7th
(encompassing everything from workers’ rights, to welfare, to TTIP, to climate),
where we can create the broadest possible demonstration of defiance to this
government and a huge public debate about austerity that the Tories don’t want
to have!

PCS members, who have already taken 52 days of strike action in opposition to the privatisation and to demand the reinstatement of unjustly sacked PCS rep Candy Udwin, are striking again between 4-6 August. The Union, which has repeatedly urged management to work with PCS and the conciliation service ACAS to resolve the dispute, views the decision to announce the private sector provider now as a deliberately inflammatory move by Gallery management. Consequently PCS have now served notice on the Gallery that the Union plans to commence all-outcontinuous strikeaction from 11 August.

Urgent appeal

With all-out strike action looming, the Gallery strikers are making a fresh appeal for financial support; You can help the campaign in a number of ways:

· By organising a collection at your workplace (a collection sheet can be downloaded from this page)

Tuesday, 11 August 2015

EDF Energy workers to strike over ‘pay loss of up to £6,000’

05 August 2015 from http://www.unitetheunion.org/ acknowledgements to William Quick

The roll-out of a Smart meter installation programme across London and southern and western England will be hit when EDF Energy staff stage two days of strike action this month in a dispute over pay cuts, job losses and working extended hours to install the meters.

Unite, the country’s largest union representing nearly 500 staff, said that if the proposals were allowed to go through some of its members would lose up to £6,000-a-year in income which was ‘totally unacceptable’.

Meter readers and fixers, office staff and managers will be striking for 24 hours from 00.01 on Wednesday 12 August and at the same time on Thursday 20 August.

They had voted by a margin of 85 per cent for strike action and 92 per cent were in favour of industrial action short of a strike.

The strike will disrupt the training of staff to use and install the Smart meters, designed to give more accurate readings centrally, and cause inconvenience to consumers expecting a visit to install the new meters.

The union accused the company of backtracking on an agreement with Unite last year to protect current staff – that deal was thrashed out after three days of strike action.

Unite regional officer Onay Kasab said: “The company has shown yet again that it is not to be trusted. We have an agreement protecting current staff, which the company interprets as a license to propose longer working hours, pay cuts and job losses.

“For example, company proposals could mean some of our members losing about £6,000-a-year. How can anybody interpret a pay loss of £6,000 as ‘protection’ for current staff? This is totally unacceptable.

“EDF Energy is failing to abide by last year’s agreement whereby current staff would not be adversely affected by the company’s programme to introduce Smart metering.

“The strikes will disrupt the introduction of the Smart meter programme that the company is so keen to continue to roll out.”

The dispute follows the employer’s failure to resolve a list of issues including:

Extended working hours to install Smart meters, but withdrawing the London allowance which could mean a pay cut of up to £6,000

No pay awards for staff on personal contracts, despite saying performance pay should be awarded if targets are met

Job losses caused by managers applying for their own jobs and if rejected, facing potential unemployment.

Monday, 10 August 2015

Subject: National Gallery: Important UpdateReply-To: Clara Paillard via Campaigns by You Dear supporters,The National Gallery has now appointed the private company Securitas to run their security and visitor services but the PCS campaign to stop privatisation continues with staff going on a all-out strike from tomorrow.

WE ARE APPEALING FOR URGENT SUPPORT ALL OUT STRIKE ACTIONThe National Gallery have decided to bring forward the date to sign the contract with Securitas before the new director takes up office so we have brought forward the date of our all out strike which is now starting on 11 August.PCS members are intent on continuing to fight against the privatisation plans and to demand guarantees about their future. Join our events:

ALL OUT STRIKE FROM TUESDAY 11 AUGUSTPicket 9-11am each day plus Friday 5-6.30pm

SOLIDARITY SOCIAL FRIDAY 15 AUGUST 6.30pmSilver Cross Pub Whitehall

PICK A DAY- PICK A PAINTING!We are inviting trade unions or campaigns to adopt a day of strike action during August. If you can’t come to the picket line please show your support in other ways. Strikers will help adapt a suitable painting from the National Gallery collection to help publicise your solidarity. See the choices different campaigns and unions have chosen here:Wed 12 August 2.30-3.30pm: EquityThurs 13 August 9-10am: London Universities and college unions (Unison and UCU)Fri 14 August 5-6.30pm: PCS London DWPFri 14 August 5-6.30pm: Disabled People Against CutsSat 15 August 9-11am: London council workers (Unison)

URGENT REQUEST FOR FINANCIAL HELPThank you so much for your support so far. We are still appealing for help to raise sufficient funds to ensure that National Gallery strikers can afford to keep fighting.A collection sheet is here if you want to organise a fundraiser. or you can donate via PayPal.More ways to donate on our blog here.

The future of arts & CultureOur campaign is part of a bigger fight to preserve access to art & culture as a public service. Other museum workers are also fighting the impact of budget cuts across the country. Please sign their petitions in solidarity:Tate privatised workers on zero hours contracts fighting for decent payWelsh Museums workers striking to stop a pay cut up to £3,000All the best,Clara

From Trade Unions for Energy Democracy and the climate jobs campaigns in Norway, South Africa, UK, Philipines, New York, Canada, and Portugal:

The ITUC is organising an international meeting of Trade unionists & environmental campaigners for the first time ever on 14-15th September. This is a unique opportunity to discuss some important initiatives already involving Trade Unions and Climate. On Sunday 13th September (11am - 530pm), we are therefore organising discussions & workshops on the themes of Climate Jobs and Energy Democracy. We hope you can join us to discuss the way forward, how we extend those initiatives and to network with like-minded activists.

Saturday, 8 August 2015

Martin Francis

Francis Sealey

Using social networks like facebook thousands of Polish people working in Britain are expected to take part in the first ever migrant workers strike in this country later this month. The protest, planned for 20 august 2015 is the result of discussions on Polish internet forums by people angry at immigrants being blamed for Britain's economic problems.And the unofficial strike, which does not involve any trade unions, is being backed by the Polish Express newspaper which has created a Facebook group to promote the event. A red t-shirt produced for the protest states: “Enough! Stop blaming us.”

The suggestion of a strike came from one of their readers, claimed Tomasz Kowalski, editor, Polish Express. “It’s just a way to show people in the UK that immigrants are an important part of Britain. We want to make the point that we are here and that we want to feel appreciated,” he said.

At more than 680,000 people, the Polish community is one of the biggest in Britain. Around half a million Polish workers are relied upon in areas such as construction, healthcare and catering.

Maybe this is the way of protest in the 21st century when Government is fast eroding the rights of trade unions. Strike and protests may well spring up spontaneously and through social networking rather than through organisations like trade unions that can be held legally liable by increasingly repressive governments.

Of course this strike may not work but it may signal a method or organisation in the digital 21st century that could be replicated again and again with growing and greater success.

Please contact P.Murry at yrrumuk@googlemail.com if you are interested.

GREEN LEFT FRINGE AT AUTUMN CONFERENCE 2012

Both Green Left and the Green Party Trade Union Group applied to have fringes at the Green Party Conference September 7-10 2012, Conferences Committee turned down both these requests. Green Left decided to mount a fringe outside conference at 6-8pm on Saturday 8th September GPTU agreed to support this meeting and contribute towards costs of room hire. Video clips at http://greenleftblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/green-left-fringe-fringe-at-green-party.html